Sunday, February 7, 2010

Just in time for Valentine's Day! I have been working on these collages for Fiona and Alexa since August. Sad- but true, the handwork is what takes the longest. I am not a fast needle worker. I used to fret over it, then I realized that I don't do it to win a raise. It's not a contest to see what crafter creates the most in a month, I do it because I love to do it. I enjoy the "slowness" of handwork, especially with the crazy fast life style most of us reluctantly live today.

I embroidered the flowers on a painted dryer sheet and a dyed Shout Color Catcher. I had read in Quilting Arts about a woman who quilted with them. This bright pink one was dyed with just the smallest amount of food coloring. They absorb color like a sponge and when fused to some light weight interfacing they make a great surface to embroider on.

For the collage portion I used a 6 x 6 stretched canvas bored (I use the cheap kind because I cover so much of it up). I have never used Gesso, although I would like to try -just haven't wanted to spend the money on it yet. That being said I usually paint a plain layer of acrylic paint on my canvas usually in the color I'm thinking of using the most of. From there I just start layering tissue paper, dryer sheets, wrapping paper; whatever I can find that looks interesting. Then I play with layering some more paint on it. I got really lucky last fall while visiting the local antique mall, I found a large ledger journal dating back to about 1910. I think it had to have been a ledger for a dry goods store because there are notes in there about flour and sugar to hay and pig feed. It's funny, the journal is about 11 x 14 and is about 2 inches thick but I treat it as if it were the last drop of water on the earth! You don't find treasures like that to often!

I was really excited that I finished these in time for Valentine's Day. The girls have been watching me doing the embroidery for the last several months and they have been so patient. They recently decided that they wanted to share a bedroom, so they have decided they are going to put these on the wall above their beds. I'm so flattered; nothing makes me beam more than when my kids compliment my creations. Happy Valentine's Day!

I am taking an online class through Joggles.com on mark making and dying embroidery thread. The class is being taught by Melanie Testa. WELL the plan was for me to drive to Cleveland Friday night (closest place to buy Soda Ash and Procion MX Dyes), have dinner with my sister, then come home. Later after the girls went to bed I was going to play with dying my own embroidery thread...

The eight inches of blowing, drifting, freezing snow put an end to those plans! (It drifted so bad that Saturday morning I couldn't get the back door open.) So I improvised. I used vinegar and food coloring to dye five skeins of embroidery floss. I let them soak overnight and just lightly rinsed them this morning...

They are lighter than if I had used real dyes but they satisfied the impatient child that lives within me. Now I'm really excited to try this with real dye! But it will have to wait until some night this week after work. Hope you all have a very colorful and blessed week.

Friday, February 5, 2010

There was a Wolf Moon this past week. Supposedly, this is the biggest and brightest the moon will be this winter. We had just a touch of hazy fog the night I took these pictures. It was very cold so the fog formed high in the sky. The moon though was so bright that it STILL lit up the whole sky! The only thing I was missing was snow; which we are getting plenty of as I write this! (We are suppose to have 6-8 inches by morning) Anyway, I could not resist taking a few pictures of this once a year event...

The whole sky looked magical, like a scene from The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe (one of my favorite books and a pretty good movie too). I didn't care that it was freezing outside. I really love moonlight, there is something so peaceful and calming about it. When I was a little girl, I would wake up in the middle of the night a lot and try to crawl into bed with my parents. (I got scared easily) Except when the moon was big and bright, the moonlight would pour into my bedroom window and make wonderful patterns on the floor and I wouldn't be scared anymore. Isn't it funny how the simplest things can make us feel so safe and secure.? It's been a very long week, I'm glad it's Friday. I have two flower cross stitch collages almost done for Fiona and Alexa (I've only been working on them since August!), I will post pictures this weekend. Blessings to all.